Will this be a long hot summer of trials for Xarelto defense counsel?

(MASS TORT NEXUS MEDIA) The second Xarelto bellwether drug trial over dangers related to internal bleeding linked to the anticoagulant blockbuster drug, started Friday April 6, 2018 in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, in front of Judge Michael E. Erdos. This trial, where plaintiff Daniel Russell, of New Jersey claims that after being prescribed Xarelto, for Atrial Fibrillation or Afib, the drug caused massive internal bleeding and other serious medical complications. Mr. Russel’s trial follows the December 2017 verdict where a jury had awarded plaintiff Lynn Hartman $28 million for failure to warn of the dangers of Xarelto, a verdict later reversed in post trial arguments by Judge Erdos.

In opening statements by lead counsel Brian Barr of the Levin Papantonio firm,(see Russell v Bayer et al Trial Transcript Opening Statements April 6, 2018) the jury was told on Friday, that drug makers Bayer AG and Johnson & Johnson units (Janssen Pharmaceuticals, et al) failed to warn doctors about the risk the medication posed when used in combination with other drugs, which include internal bleeding, ischemic strokes and other adverse events. Offering that the companies had known that combining Xarelto with antiplatelet medications including Plavix and even aspirin, the combination would significantly increase the risk of internal bleeding, but that they ultimately opted to keep the information to themselves, and would not offer a formal FDA approved warning.

In the initial Phila bellwether trial, Lynn Hartman and her husband had filed their complaint against the drugmakers in 2015, (see XARELTO Case No. 2349 Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas briefcase) with claims very similar to Mr. Russell, resulting in the jury awarding $1.8 million in compensatory damages and $26 million in punitive damages. This verdict was seen as a high note for plaintiff counsel in the Xarelto litigation, after three prior trial losses, in the Xarelto MDL 2592 bellwether trials in Louisiana and Mississippi in 2017, which took place in federal courts.

The Phila Court Xarelto docket is the hot mass tort ticket now as Judge Fallon decided there will be no more MDL trials in front of him, and started the remand process in the Xarelto MDL 2592 cases, where he’s sending the cases back to original jurisdictions for trial.

The Lynn Hartman trial was just one of about 21,400 lawsuits against Bayer and Janssen pending in federal and state courts blaming injuries on Xarelto, and was the first case selected for trial from more than 1,400 Xarelto cases pending in the Complex Litigation docket of the Philadelphia court. Daniel Russel’s case is the second bellwether trial to go forward in the Xarelto docket, with several additional trials set to follow in the coming months.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Xarelto in 2011, to be prescribed for people with atrial fibrillation, a common heart rhythm disorder, and to treat and reduce the risk of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolisms, often after implant surgeries.

Plaintiffs in the Hartman trial as well as in thousands of other Xarelto lawsuits, alleged that the drug was unreasonably dangerous and that Janssen (J&J) and Bayer failed to warn patients about a serious risk of uncontrollable, irreversible bleeding in emergencies and were aware of adverse events for a long period of time. These allegations will be argued aggressively by defense in all forthcoming trials, as the defendants do not seem to be willing to bend on their winning trial strategy.

Bayer and Janssen have defended Xarelto’s label stating that the label adequately warns of bleeding risks. After four trials verdicts, all in their favor, defense seems to be using an effective trial strategy that has worked in venues across the country.

The three bellwether trials in the Xarelto MDL 2592, Xarelto MDL 2592 Briefcase (US District Court ED Louisiana) heard in front of Judge Eldon Fallon, all resulted in defense wins for Bayer and Janssen, with this Philadelphia trial shifting the focus from the federal Xarelto docket to the Philadelphia court and the bellwether trials scheduled there. This trail will be closely watched by all arties, as the impact of the initial plaintiff’s trial win followed by the Judge Erdos reversal in January during post-trial hearings, was not anticipated by those on the plaintiff bench. Will the Hartman verdict reversal ruling, as well as the peripheral trial conduct issues that were also addressed post-trial by Judge Erdos have any impact on this current Russell trial and the remaining scheduled trials in the Phila Xarelto docket? That is a question that remains to be seen over the course of the upcoming trials in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Xarelto docket

Xarelto MDL 2592 – Judge Fallon “I need to devise an end game for this MDL”

Are Settlement Talks Coming to Xarelto Litigation?

By Mark A. York (January 30, 2018)

XARELTO: A BAYER CORP. AND JANSSEN PHARMACEUTICALS JOINT EFFORT

(MASS TORT NEXUS MEDIA) During the January 30, 2018 monthly status conference hearing in Xarelto products liability MDL No. 2592, US District Court Judge Eldon Fallon stated that this MDL is nearing its end, and “I need to devise an end game,” as he now seems to be pushing both sides toward a resolution. He also referred to selection of cases to remand where 400 cases each will be selected by plaintiff and defense counsel and 400 more by the court, for a total of 1200 cases being designated for remand back to the court of original jurisdiction for trial or settlement.

Judge Fallon also referred to resolving any lingering discovery issues that remain in certain cases to avoid mounting discovery costs in getting those case resolved, while trying to put a time frame on the proposed process of winding down the Xarelto MDL.

The sprawling nationwide litigation has produced over 21,000 lawsuits since the federal MDL was created in 2014 in New Orleans, and the number of new cases filed each month remains the same at about 400 per month. Even more cases have been filed in state courts in Philadelphia and Los Angeles, with there being about 1200 cases in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas docket in front of Judge Arnold New.

Michael Weinkowitz, lead plaintiff counsel in the recent Philadelphia trial verdict of $29 million, awarded to plaintiff Lynn Hartman, provided an update to the court, including a discussion on the January 9, 2018 ruling that overturned the Hartman verdict in a contentious post trial hearing, where Judge Michael Erdos granted a defense Motion for Judgement Notwithstanding the Verdict. The Philadelphia court post-trial issues of attorney misconduct were also interjected into Judge Fallon’s courtroom by defense counsel, which seemed to be totally unwarranted and out of place in the MDL hearing, when Bayer defense counsel felt the need to advise the federal court of “allegations of trial misconduct” that were heard at the January 9th hearing, even though the Hartman verdict was overturned based on proximate cause issues, not in any way related to plaintiff attorney misconduct,” as defense counsel seemed to offer to the court.

CASE DEMOGRAPHICS

Jacob Woody, of Brown Greer’s MDL Centrality program provided current data as to case numbers and plaintiff demographics including 21,465 cases currently filed into the Xarelto MDL, averaging 450 new filings each month. As well as:

Texas, Florida and California having the most plaintiffs with over 1,000 each

48% of plaintiffs allege a gastrointestinal bleed as the primary medical issue

The number of new case filings per month has remained steady for the last 3 years

PHILADELPHIA XARELTO DOCKET

While Judge Fallon is seeking an apparent end to the federal Xarelto MDL in New Orleans, Judge Arnold New in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, has set a rather aggressive trial schedule in the Xarelto docket there, including trial start dates of March 19th, April 16th and June 11, 2018 with additional trials being set at “one to two trials per month for perpetuity” quoting Judge Fallon on his interaction with the Philadelphia court. The appeal of Judge Erdos’ January 9th reversal of the Lynn Hartman $29 million verdict was filed today as well, on January 30 2018 in the Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

PROBLEMS WITH XARELTO

The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approved Xarelto in 2011 for prescriptions, written to patients suffering from a rhythmic heart disorder called atrial fibrillation and to prevent blood clots that can lead to heart attacks, strokes and pulmonary embolisms.

Plaintiffs and their counsel charge Xarelto’s manufacturers with failing to properly warn patients that Xarelto use presented increased risks for cranial and gastrointestinal bleeding when taken once daily and not properly monitored.

Plaintiffs assert claims against Xarelto makers Bayer, Janssen and Johnson & Johnson of strict liability, manufacturing defect, design defect, failure to warn, negligence, breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranty, negligent misrepresentation, fraud as well as violation of consumer protection laws where permitted by state statutes and loss of consortium when possible.

The GI bleed issue which is the most common allegation in the Xarelto complaints is by no means the only medical issue to arise in litigation over the block-buster blood thinner, with claims of both hemorrhagic and ischemic strokes, sudden uncontrolled internal bleeding, lack of an antidote to stop traumatic bleeding events related to trauma as well as thousands of deaths related to taking Xarelto after being prescribed the drug by doctors.

Bayer and Janssen have aggressively defended the safety of Xarelto and proclaim the previous three defense verdicts in the Xarelto bellwether trails that took place in 2017, show that Xarelto is a safe drug. Medical and scientific data do not seem to support that position, but the 21,000 remaining lawsuits waiting to be returned to federal court dockets across the country may well force the defendants to rethink their legal strategy due to the catastrophic costs associated with defending and preparing cases for that number of potential trials.

XARELTO CALIFORNIA JCCP DOCKET

In January, California Superior Court Judge Kenneth R. Freeman in Los Angeles appointed the plaintiffs’ liaison counsel in the state’s Judicial Council Coordinated Proceedings (JCCP) for all Xarelto cases in the state courts, JCCP Case No. 4862. The California Xarelto docket is moving forward as cases filed there continue to increase monthly, with almost 300 cases currently pending in the California state courts. A recent status conference was held in December, when the parties agreed to submit plaintiff and defendant fact sheets.

XARELTO MDL 2592 FUTURE

Even though Judge Fallon has determined that there will be no more bellwether trials in his court as a sitting MDL judge, there are individual Xarelto cases that will remain in the US District Court of Louisiana docket that he may be ruling on. He will also have to address the various housekeeping and legal issues that will arise in winding down such a large MDL docket where the cases are still active and viable and both sides don’t seem to be looking toward a quick settlement at this point.

The thousands of cases being placed in front of federal judges across the country could possibly force the parties to come to the settlement table sooner as opposed to later, with a push here and there from individual courts, as already overloaded federal courts are probably not readily agreeable and inviting of this large a number of cases that are returning to home venues.

At this point the ball rests with defense counsel and their primary clients Bayer Pharma AG and Janssen Pharmaceuticals et al, and the corporate decision makers who are also facing the recently started Opiate Prescription Drug MDL 2804, which may require defense legal talent to switch from the Xarelto docket to the Opioid crisis litigation. The Opiate Prescription MDL may easily dwarf the prior Tobacco Litigation, to which it’s being compared. Big Pharma has some key decisions to make when it comes to where and how they will assign future resources and capital in defending past decisions in the manufacture and marketing of their prescription pharmaceuticals.

(MASS TORT NEXUS MEDIA) The December 2017 Xarelto jury verdict of $27.8 million awarded to an Indiana couple, was overturned earlier this week, when the trial judge vacated the verdict. The plaintiffs had accused Bayer AG and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, of failing to warn of internal bleeding risks of their drug Xarelto.

Judge Michael Erdos, Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas, heard arguments on January 9, 2018 in a motion hearing to reverse the December verdict, which was the first defense trial loss in litigation over the Xarelto blood thinner, and also the first trial outside the Xarelto MDL 2592, (see XARELTO MDL 2592 US District Court ED Louisiana briefcase) in front of Judge Eldon Fallon, US District Court of Louisiana.

Judge Erdos issued his ruling from the bench after the hearing on defense motions for a new trial or alternatively, for a judgement notwithstanding the verdict, and at the close of a full day of arguments stating, “a new trial is not necessary because plaintiff did not adequately demonstrate responsible cause,” and he then entered judgement for the defendants.

“J&J’s Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc and Bayer, which jointly developed Xarelto, welcomed the decision and issued statements saying they will continue to defend against the allegations in all Xarelto litigation, with a total of more than 20,000 pending lawsuits now in both state and federal Xarelto dockets.

Bayer stated “Bayer stands behind the safety and efficacy of Xarelto and will continue to vigorously defend it.”

The December 5, 2017 verdict came in a lawsuit filed by Lynn Hartman, who was prescribed Xarelto as treatment for an irregular heartbeat also known as atrial fibrillation, to prevent strokes. The testimony and opinions of Ms. Hartman’s treating physician and views on continued willingness to prescribe Xarelto, had a significant impact on the final ruling to overturn the verdict by Judge Erdos.

Hartman claimed she was prescribed the drug for a little more than a year, starting in February 2013, and was hospitalized with severe gastrointestinal bleeding in June 2014, at age 72, with the bleed attributed to taking Xarelto. The court record reflected that Ms. Hartman has since recovered from the hospitalization.

Lynn Hartman and her husband filed their complaint against the drugmakers in 2015, (see XARELTO Case No. 2349 Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas briefcase) with the six week trial starting the first week of November 2017, resulting in the jury awarding $1.8 million in compensatory damages and $26 million in punitive damages. This verdict was seen as a high note for plaintiff counsel in the Xarelto litigation, after three prior trial losses, in Xarelto MDL 2592 bellwether trials in Louisiana and Mississippi.

The Hartman trial is just one of about 21,400 against Bayer and Janssen pending in federal and state courts blaming injuries on Xarelto, and the first selected for trial from more than 1,400 Xarelto cases pending in the Complex Litigation docket of the Philadelphia court.

Plaintiff trial counsel Michael Weinkowitz, said the decision related to a “very narrow issue related to Mrs. Hartman’s prescribing physician.” He said he looked forward to trying the next series of Xarelto-related cases in Philadelphia. The post trial legal arguments were related to the “learned intermediary doctrine and proximate cause” and was raised by defense in post trial motions and aggressively argued, which plaintiff counsel was unable to overcome in the full day hearing.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Xarelto in 2011, to be prescribed for people with atrial fibrillation, a common heart rhythm disorder, and to treat and reduce the risk of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolisms, often after implant surgeries.

Plaintiffs in the Hartman trial as well as in thousands of other Xarelto lawsuits, alleged that the drug was unreasonably dangerous and that Janssen (J&J) and Bayer failed to warn patients about a serious risk of uncontrollable, irreversible bleeding in emergencies and were aware of adverse events for a long period of time. These allegations will be argued aggressively by defense in all forthcoming trials, as the defendants do not seem to be willing to bend on their winning trial strategy.

Bayer and Janssen have defended Xarelto’s label stating that the label adequately warns of bleeding risks. After four trials verdicts, all in their favor, defense seems to be using an effective trial strategy that has worked in venues across the country.

The three bellwether trials in the Xarelto MDL 2592, all resulted in defense wins for Bayer and Janssen, with this Philadelphia trial shifting the focus from the federal Xarelto docket to the Philadelphia court and the Hartman trial. What impact the initial plaintiff’s trial win followed by the Judge Erdos reversal this week has on both Xarelto dockets remains to be seen.

New Jersey Supreme Court Review Reinstatement Of Accutane Experts

The New Jersey Supreme Court recently granted petitions and cross-petitions to appeal a state appellate court’s reversal of expert exclusions in the state’s Accutane multicounty litigation and the reinstatement of 2,076 dismissed cases (In Re: Accutane Litigation, C-388 September Term 2017, C-329 September Term 2017 and C-390 September Term 2017, N.J. Sup.) See Mass Tort Nexus Accutane Briefcase Accutane New Jersey State Court Litigation.

Judge Eldon Fallon, overseeing the Xarelto multidistrict litigation, recently denied a motion for a new trial by the plaintiff in the third bellwether trial, where Bayer was found not liable in the Dora Mingo trial that took place in a Mississippi federal court in front of Judge Fallon. He ruled that plaintiff was unsuccessful in presenting new findings, among other things, that the plaintiff’s “newly discovered evidence” is actually cumulative of previously known and admitted evidence (In Re: Xarelto [Rivaroxaban] Products Liability Litigation, MDL Docket No. 2592, E.D. La., 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 205422). See Mass Tort Xarelto Briefcase for the entire Mingo trial transcripts as well as full transcripts of the Orr and Boudreaux trials, XARELTO MDL 2592 US District Court ED Louisiana Including Trial Transcripts.

With the final two pending cases now closed, the Illinois federal judge overseeing the Pradaxa multidistrict litigation on Dec. 11 again recommended that the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPMDL) terminate the MDL (In Re: Pradaxa [Dabigatran Etexilate]Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2385, No. 12-md-2385, S.D. Ill.). After a global settlement was reached in 2014 with defendant Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc., the JPMDL suspended the transfer of tag-along actions into the MDL, and now the judge has moved for termination of the Pradaxa MDL. However, there remains over 700 Pradaxa cases pending in the State Court of Connecticut, Complex Litigation Docket, known as “Connecticut Pradaxa Actions”, see Mass Tort Nexus Pradaxa Case Briefcase, Connecticut Consolidated Pradaxa Litigation.

Boehringer To Pay $13.5M To End Off-Label Marketing Claims

Drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc. has agreed to distribute $13.5 million among all 50 states and the District of Columbia to end allegations that it marketed four of its prescription drugs for off-label uses, attorneys general announced Wednesday.
The settlement would resolve allegations that Boehringer marketed its prescription drugs Micardis, Aggrenox, Atrovent and Combivent for uses that weren’t approved by their labels or backed by scientific evidence. (Getty) The settlement, of which New York will receive about $490,000, would resolve allegations that the drugmaker marketed it products for off-label use, which often leads to unknown or studied adverse events and medical complications for patients taking these drugs for unapproved purposes.

J&J Fined $30 Million Over French Opioid Drug Smear Campaign In Efforts To Sell Fentanyl Patch

France’s antitrust enforcer fined Johnson & Johnson and its Janssen-Cilag unit €25 million ($29.7 million) on Wednesday for hindering the marketing and sale of a generic version of the company’s Durogesic pain patch.The French Competition Authority found that Janssen and J&J had not only successfully delayed a generic competitor for the powerful opioid for several months, but had also done lasting damage by discrediting rival versions of the drug with doctors and pharmacists in a country where medical professionals still remain reluctant to opt for prescribing opioids. The J&J conduct reflects the same claims being asserted against opioid drug makers in the US, where lawsuits have been consolidate into Opiate Prescription Litigation MDL No. 2804, in the US District Court of Ohio, see Mass Tort Nexus Opioid Crisis Briefcase, OPIOID CRISIS MATERIALS INCLUDING: MDL 2804 OPIATE PRESCRIPTION LITIGATION.

A Pennsylvania appeals court panel on Dec. 15 said a trial judge did not err when remitting a Zimmer Inc. knee verdict to $29.6 million and said it declined to substitute its judgment in place of the jury’s (Margo Polett, et al. v. Public Communications, Inc., et al., No. 80 EDA 2017, Pa. Super., 2017 Pa. Superior Court)

A Pennsylvania state appeals panel on Nov. 28 affirmed the dismissal of 13 Risperdal gynecomastia cases, agreeing with a trial judge that the plaintiffs’ claims are preempted by Michigan’s drug shield law and that the plaintiffs could not prove that the fraud exception

U.S. Supreme Court Asks Solicitor General To Weigh In On Fosamax Preemption

The U.S. Supreme Court on has invited the U.S. solicitor general to express the views of the United States on whether there is “clear and convincing evidence” that the Food and Drug Administration would have rejected a stronger warning about femur fractures from the osteoporosis drug Fosamax (Merck Sharpe & Dohme Corp. v. Doris Albrecht, et al., No. 17-290, U.S. Supreme Court) This is a unique turn when the Supreme Court is seeking input from an outside agency in what is now a common legal issue placed in front of the court, where dug makers are using the FDA regulatory process as a shield in defending thousands of claims where warnings of drug dangers are not clear or not provided. See Mass Tort Nexus Fosamax Case Briefcase, FOSAMAX MDL 2243 (FEMUR FRACTURE CLAIMS).

A state court jury in Philadelphia delivered a first-of-its-kind verdict on Tuesday as it awarded $29 million in damages against a pair of Johnson & Johnson and Bayer AG units after finding the companies had provided inadequate warnings about the risks of bleeding associated with the blood thinner Xarelto,(see XARELTO Case No. 2349 in Philadephia Court of Common Pleas – Complex Litigation (PA State Court). In the first bellwether trial outside the Xarelto Federal MDL 2592, plaintiff counsel scored a win in a $29 million verdict, when plaintiff Lynn Hartman showed that Xarelto caused severe bleeding after she was prescribed the drug by her doctor. The 3 prior federal court trials in the Xarelto MDL 2592 docket (see XARELTO MDL 2592 US District Court ED Louisiana) were all won by the defense and this trial was watched closely by both legal and drug industry observers to see if the 3-0 defense win streak continued. Now that Ms. Hartman has shown that the Xarelto prescription caused her internal bleeding, with no warnings by manufacturers Bayer and J&J, the remaining 22,000 Xarelto cases pending in courts across the country will begin preparations for a legal battle that to date has gone in favor of defense counsel.

Drug maker Auxilium won a defense verdict in their Testim product bellwether trial, where plaintiffs claimed it caused a heart attack in a verdict reached in the US District Court Northern District of Illinois, Judge Kennelly, in MDL 2545 Testosterone Replacement Therapy. (Testosterone Therapy MDL 2545 USDC ND Illinois)

Senator Bob Menendez judge declares a mistrial in New Jersey federal court trial, after a hung jury cannot agree unanimously on charges. Question is- Are the Senator and his doctor friend in Florida, just that-were they just friends or was there active bribery taking place?

Recent Case Updates:

At the close of arguments in the latest DePuy MDL 2244 trial on Monday November 13, 2017, six New York plaintiffs asked a Texas federal jury to hit Johnson & Johnson and it’s DePuy subsidiary, with at least a nine-figure punitive damages award. Attorneys asked that J&J and DePuy be punished for making and marketing their Pinnacle model hip implants, an alleged defective line of metal-on-metal hip implants, that have caused many thousands of injuries to unsuspecting patients. If this jury follows suit on prior Pinnacle bellwether jury awards, then J&J and DePuy should be ready for a massive verdict, as the last jury awarded California plaintiffs over one billion dollars in December 2016, sending a clear message that the company’s Pinnacle design and subsequent marketing policies have failed.

METALLSOIS DAMAGE

Closing arguments wrapped up on the two-month bellwether trial, where plaintiffs claimed they suffered “metallosis” which caused tissue damage and negative reactions to the Pinnacle Ultamet line of metal-on-metal hip implants made by J&J’s DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. unit. Depending on the jury verdict, perhaps J&J will consider coming to the settlement table if another massive verdict is awarded, or they may continue the aggressive “we’ve done no wrong stance” resulting in more plaintiff verdicts in the future..

Watson Pharma, Inc. and it’s parent Activis, Inc. were denied insurance coverage in a November 6, 2017 ruling by the California State Court of Appeals in the 2014 Declaratory Judgment action filed by Travelers Insurance in an Orange County, CA court where Travelers successfully asserted claims that they were not required to defend or indemnify Watson in the underlying opioid based litigation filed by Santa Clara and Orange County against opioid manufacturers, due to Watson’s “intentional bad conduct” in their business practices related to sales and marketing of it’s opioid products. The Appeals Court also excluded Watson’s coverage in a similar opioid lawsuit against them in a Chicago, Illinois federal case where the City of Chicago filed similar claims against Watson over opioid marketing abuses in 2014. Perhaps other insurance carrier will take notice and look closer at denying policy coverage for many other opioid manufacturers who have been sued across the country in cases with almost the exact claims as those alleged by Santa Clara County and the City of Chicago.

>NEW XARELTO TRIAL:

Former FDA Commissioner Testifies in Philadelphia Xarelto Trial-

“Xarelto Warnings Are Inadequate”

— Former head of the Food and Drug Administration, Commissioner David Kessler testified during the first state court trial in Philadelphia, telling the jury on Tuesday that “warning labels for the blood thinner Xarelto failed to provide adequate information to doctors and consumers about the risk of bleeding that some patients could face when using the drug”.

David Kessler, FDA Commissioner under President George H.W. Bush and President Bill Clinton, told jurors that Bayer AG and Johnson & Johnson’s warning labels for the medication understated the risk of significant bleeding events that had been seen in television and print ads across the country for years, and failed to disclose the true risks associated with prescribing the blockbuster drug. This trial, expected to take six weeks, is the first state court bellwether trial for the blood thinner Xarelto, in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, the prior trials took place in federal courts in Louisiana and Mississippi where the defense prevailed in all 3 trials earlier this year. Those trials were all bellwether trials, as part of the Xarelto MDL 2592 in front of Judge Eldon Fallon, US District Court, ED Louisiana. Will the change of venue to Pennsylvania State Court have a different outcome than the three prior Xeralto trial losses?

Luzerne County in Northeast Pennsylvania has filed a federal RICO based lawsuit accusing pharmaceutical companies including Purdue, Pharma, Endo, Janssen and Teva of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act by illegally marketing highly addictive painkillers that have contributed to a costly national opioid epidemic. The suit filed in US district Court of Pennsylvania by Luzerne County is one of many cases opioid drugmakers and distributors are facing as state and local governments seek to recoup costs they’ve incurred in the increased marketing and prescribing of opioid painkillers, and the resultant spikes in addiction and overdose.

OPIOID MARKETING ABUSES

“The manufacturers aggressively pushed highly addictive, dangerous opioids, falsely representing to doctors that patients would only rarely succumb to drug addiction,” the complaint, which was filed on Wednesday, said. “These pharmaceutical companies … turned patients into drug addicts for their own corporate profit.”
“The lawsuit accused the drugmakers of using false and deceptive marketing practices over the course of the last two decades, including pushing the opioid painkillers for treatment of chronic pain, to boost prescriptions for the drugs

COMMON CLAIMS AGAINST ALL OPIOiD MAKERS

Among the companies’ primary claims, cited by Luzerne county and others, evidence the manufacturers intentionally misled consumers, was that the drugs were not addictive when prescribed to treat legitimate pain. This is one of the key claims used by all parties filing suit against the opioid manufacturers, across the entire country.

Case heading is: Luzerne County v. Purdue Pharma LP et al., case number 3:17-cv-2043, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

In addition to the many counties and other communities from across the country that have filed lawsuits against opioid manufacturers in MDL 2802, set for a JPML consolidation hearing November 30, 2017 a new group of plaintiffs have joined the increasing pool of parties filing suit against Big Pharma opioid manufacturers and their distributors. Unions are now joining in the suits alleging that the business practices of the opioid makers and distributors caused catastrophic healthcare and related labor problems everywhere in the country over the last 15 years. Locals from the Electrical Workers; Commercial Food Service and Teamsters are now plaintiffs in the MDL 2804, which if approved at the upcoming JPML hearings in St Louis, will probably cause a flood of additional filings by unions across the country.

State attorneys general, a Native American tribe and individual consumers are among the ever increasing pool of plaintiffs who’ve brought lawsuits against drugmakers, pharmacies and distributors allegedly responsible for epidemic levels of opioid abuse. As word spreads among the network of local governments, and discussion take place about the municipal opioid lawsuits being filed, there will be a flood of new complaints filed, that will match or exceed the number of cases filed in the massive “Tobacco Litigation” which is quickly gaining comparison as the opioid case filings are looking to be comparable in size and probably exceed the tobacco litigation in damages.

XARELTO in Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas: Will The “California Plavix” Supreme Court Ruling Affect Out of State Plaintiffs?

By Mark A. York

Mass Tort Nexus (September 26, 2017)

Bayer, which has a headquarters in Pennsylvania, recently used a June 2017 U.S. Supreme Court decision on out of state plaintiffs and court jurisdictions to dismiss dozens of lawsuits from a Missouri federal court in the “Essure” birth control litigation. It remains to be seen if Bayer will use the same strategy in other jurisdictions, like Philadelphia, where the Xarelto blood thinner cases are piling up, see XARELTO Case No. 2349 in Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Briefcase.

The many claimants who have brought their lawsuits in Philadelphia will have to see if pharmaceutical companies like Bayer, Johnson & Johnson and others who are facing many thousands of other claims from out-of-state plaintiffs, will rely on the June 19th U.S. Supreme Court ruling that states an out-of-state plaintiff couldn’t file suit in California, due to a lack of jurisdiction.

The Supreme Court justices ruled 8-1 in favor of Bristol Myers-Squibb after the company argued plaintiffs living outside California who alleged injury from BMS’s blood thinner Plavix, should not be able to sue the company in that state.

The Supreme Court ruled that, essentially the “all inclusive view of personal jurisdiction by non-resident plaintiffs has come to an end.” Plavix was not designed or made in California, and the company is headquartered in New York. The ruling may simply force thousands of pending cases across the country to be refiled in other venues, as plaintiff firms are not likely to simply withdraw the cases as massive losses, without having their day in one court or another.

A non-residents plaintiff can file suit in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas, if the defendant is either incorporated in Pennsylvania, or has a principal place of business in Pennsylvania, which limits the legal options for Bayer, based on their corporate headquarters in the state.

Two of the biggest mass tort programs in the Philadelphia Complex Litigation Center docket are the Risperdal litigation, which is produced by Janssen Pharmaceuticals (a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary) and allegedly causes males to develop breasts, Janssen has been hit with several large multi-million dollar verdicts in Risperdal trials. The other is Xarelto, a blood-thinner made by Bayer and Johnson & Johnson that allegedly causes uncontrolled bleeding events, and the makers failed to warn of the dangers. The Xarelto MDL 2592 in US district Court ED Louisiana . see Xarelto MDL 2592 Mass Tort Nexus Briefcase, where close to twenty thousand additional Xarelto cases are pending.

Bayer will be having a much harder time using the BMS Plavix decision to dismiss non-resident plaintiffs from the Philadelphia courtroom, given it’s headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Xarelto MDL 2592 Judge Eldon Fallon ruled Tuesday September 19th at the close of motion hearings, that plaintiffs Joseph Orr and Joseph Boudreaux would not be granted new trials. The plaintiffs were on the losing side in the first two bellwether trials in the Xarelto multidistrict litigation versus Janssen and Bayer over claims that the blockbuster blood thinner Xarelto caused unstoppable bleeding, see Xarelto MDL 2592 Briefcase.

TRANSCRIPT EXCERPTS

In denying the motions, Judge. Fallon once again stated that he “had given a lot of thought to these issues prior to trial, and I don’t shoot from the hip” on such rulings and added “I realy feel the decisions I made were, made properly” refencing the prior Orr and Boudreaux trial rulings in the hearing transcripts, see Xarelto MDL Hearing Transcript Denying New Bellwether Trials. His hearing comments weer further clarified in the court’s 9.22.2017 order where Judge Fallon outlined his prior trial rulings and the denial of new trials for Orr and Boudreaux, Judge Fallon 9.22.17 Order Denying Bellwether Retrials.

PLAINTIFF MOTIONS

The main argument raised by plaintiffs related to exclusion from trial of data determined inadmissible by the court due to materials having international based information.

The court’s decision to exclude evidence from a peer-reviewed publication was based on the false premise that the publication included foreign regulatory standards that could confuse the jury, Boudreaux counsel argued. The exclusion of this evidence influenced the jury to believe that no medical associations or peer-reviewed publications backed a diagnostic test that would determine whether emergency room patients had recently taken Xarelto, in their June filing for the retrial.

The court also should have allowed statements from foreign labels into evidence so that Boudreaux could demonstrate that foreign regulatory authorities back the prothrombin time test, Boudreaux also claimed in June. Boudreaux further argued the court’s instructions to the jury were too broad, as they indicated the companies were required to disclose to patients only tests that were FDA approved, implying the companies weren’t required to disclose a prothrombin time test that was not FDA approved.

“The fight against Xarelto is a marathon not a sprint,” per Andy Birchfield, of the Beasley Allen firm and co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs, who also stated “There are more than 19,000 victims who are relying on the courts for justice. We will continue fighting for the thousands of innocent victims injured or killed by Xarelto.”

Janssen issued a statement agreeing with the court ruling.
“We believe the court correctly denied plaintiff’s motions for new trials and that the verdicts returned by the juries in Orr and Boudreaux were amply supported by the evidence,” Janssen spokesperson Sarah Freeman said in a statement.

FOURTH BELLWETHER TRIAL MOVED TO 2018

In a related case development, the fourth bellwether trial of William Henry, initially set for trial in October 2017 in the US District Court ND Texas has been continued until early 2018, William Henry vs. Janssen et al Complaint. Perhaps this long break between trials signals potential settlement discussions will begin.

DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR JUDGMENT AS A MATTER OF LAW AT THE CLOSE OF PLAINTIFF’S CASE-IN-CHIEF

The third Xarelto MDL 2592, bellwether trial is proceeding in US District Court of Mississippi in front of MDL Judge Eldon Fallon, where plaintiff Dora Mingo resides, see Xarelto MDL 2592 Mass Tort Nexus Briefcase. At the close of plaintiff’s case-in-chief on August 16, 2017 defendants Janssen Research & Development and Bayer Pharma AG, et al, moved the Court for judgment as a matter of law on Plaintiff’s design-defect and failure-to-warn-or-instruct claims under the Mississippi Product Liability Act (“MPLA”) see, Defendants Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law.

Plaintiff have asserted two causes of action under Miss. Code Ann. § 11-1-63. Plaintiff first asserts that Xarelto is defectively designed because it was brought to market without an accompanying rivaroxaban-specific anti-Factor Xa assay. Plaintiff also claims that Xarelto is unreasonably dangerous due to inadequate warning or instruction because Defendants failed to instruct physicians to use Neoplastin PT at the initiation of therapy to identify patients at an increased risk of bleeding.

Defendants state in their assertions that they are entitled to judgment as a matter of law on Plaintiff’s design-defect claim because an adjunct rivaroxaban-specific anti-Factor Xa assay to be used with Xarelto is not an alternative anticoagulant design and is therefore not a feasible alternative design under the MPLA.3 See Elliot v. El Paso Corp., 181 So. 3d 263, 273 (Miss. 2015); Clark v. Brass Eagle,Inc., 866 So. 2d 456, 461 (Miss. 2004). In their second assertion, they claim they are entitled to a trial win on Plaintiff’s design-defect claim because Plaintiff has presented no evidence that Xarelto failed to function as expected. See Austin v. Will-Burt Co., 361 F.3d 862, 872 (5th Cir. 2004).

Defendants further plead, they are entitled to judgment as a matter of law on Plaintiff’s design-defect claim because Plaintiff has made clear that her design-defect claim is based on a theory that Xarelto should have had a different design at the time it was released to the market (Trial Transcript. 141:19–142:11, 144:1–17), and the Court’s preemption decision so requires. See Order & Reasons on Defs.’ Preemption MSJs (Doc. 7110), at 11 (plaintiff’s “pre-market design-defect claims under the MPLA are not preempted”).

Defendants also include in their request for judgment, plaintiffs abandonment of various claims that were not presented at trial or withdrawn before trial, including the “failure to include the Rocket AF trial data” on participant bleeding rates and that Xarelto was designed without a reversal agent.

A federal jury in Louisiana found that Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Bayer Corp., makers of blood thinner Xarelto, adequately warned about the risk of unstoppable bleeding and that it did not cause the plaintiff to suffer a stroke that killed her.

The jury returned itsverdict on June 12 in the second bellwether trial in the Xarelto multidistrict litigation.

Plaintiff Sharyn Orr took Xarelto to prevent blood clots due to atrial fibrillation. She died after suffering a stroke in 2015. Her husband and children filed the acting, charging that Janssen and Bayer failed to adequately warn that it could cause uncontrolled brain bleeding.

The manufacturers argued successfully that the Xarelto label sufficiently addressed the risk of uncontrolled bleeding.

The plaintiff attorneys were Thomas C. Wicker III, James A. Watkins and Vincent E. Odom of Capitelli & Wicker in New Orleans and Albert J. Nicaud of Nicaud & Sunseri in Metairie, Louisiana.